Targetless vehicle camera calibration system

ABSTRACT

A vehicular camera calibration system includes a camera disposed at a vehicle and having a field of view exterior of the vehicle and being operable to capture image data. Responsive to processing of image data captured by the camera, the camera calibration system determines features at the ground adjacent to the vehicle and tracks the determined features over two or more frames of captured image data. Responsive to processing of frames of captured image data during movement of the vehicle along a straight path on a planar surface, the camera calibration system is operable to determine a misalignment of the camera. The camera calibration system calibrates the misaligned camera by using an assumption that the determined features lie in a plane parallel to the planar surface along which the vehicle is traveling. The camera calibration system calibrates the camera by reducing ambiguity in vectors normal to the planar surface.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the filing benefits of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 62/312,796, filed Mar. 24, 2016, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a vehicle vision system for a vehicle and, more particularly, to a vehicle vision system that utilizes one or more cameras at a vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Use of imaging sensors in vehicle imaging systems is common and known. Examples of such known systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,949,331; 5,670,935 and/or 5,550,677, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a vision system or imaging system for a vehicle that utilizes one or more cameras (such as one or more CMOS cameras) to capture image data representative of images exterior of the vehicle, and provides a calibration system that is operable to determine calibration parameters for the camera or cameras of the vision system without use of fiducial markers or targets in the field of view of the camera or cameras.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the camera calibration system of includes a camera disposed at a vehicle and having a field of view exterior of the vehicle, and an image processor operable to process image data captured by the camera. Responsive to processing of image data captured by the camera, the camera calibration system determines features at the ground near the vehicle and tracks the determined features over two or more frames of captured image data. Responsive to image processing of frames of captured image data during movement of the vehicle along generally straight path on a generally planar surface, the camera calibration system is operable to calibrate said camera. The camera calibration system is operable to calibrate the camera by using an assumption that the determined features lie in a plane and that the vehicle lies in the same plane. Thus, the camera calibration system according the invention is suitable for calibrating all of the cameras as the vehicle is driven along an end-of-line (EOL) test at a vehicle assembly plant without use of fiducial markers or patterns or targets.

The cameras (such as one or more CMOS cameras) capture image data representative of images exterior of the vehicle, and provide the communication/data signals, including camera data or captured image data, that may be displayed at a display screen that is viewable by the driver of the vehicle, such as when the driver is backing up the vehicle, and that may be processed and, responsive to such image processing, the system may detect an object at or near the vehicle and in the path of travel of the vehicle, such as when the vehicle is backing up. The vision system may be operable to display a surround view or bird's eye view of the environment at or around or at least partially surrounding the subject or equipped vehicle, and the displayed image may include a displayed image representation of the subject vehicle.

These and other objects, advantages, purposes and features of the present invention will become apparent upon review of the following specification in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a vehicle with a vision system that incorporates cameras in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an image captured by a camera of the vehicle, showing determined features at the ground near the vehicle that lie in the same plane as the vehicle; and

FIG. 3 illustrates the assumption that the feature closer to the camera is on the ground plane (white crosses 22 on the ground region 24), and using structure from motion (SfM) from these features will help to estimate the roll angle of camera, and using SfM from other features (black crosses) 23, including these on the ground, will give pitch and yaw of the vehicle, with the maximal height of the features that are reflected as ground features is represented by the borderline 25.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A vehicle vision system and/or driver assist system and/or object detection system and/or alert system operates to capture images exterior of the vehicle and may process the captured image data to display images and to detect objects at or near the vehicle and in the predicted path of the vehicle, such as to assist a driver of the vehicle in maneuvering the vehicle in a rearward direction. The vision system includes an image processor or image processing system that is operable to receive image data from one or more cameras and provide an output to a display device for displaying images representative of the captured image data. Optionally, the vision system may provide a top down or bird's eye or surround view display and may provide a displayed image that is representative of the subject vehicle, and optionally with the displayed image being customized to at least partially correspond to the actual subject vehicle.

Referring now to the drawings and the illustrative embodiments depicted therein, a vehicle 10 includes an imaging system or vision system 12 that includes at least one exterior facing imaging sensor or camera, such as a rearward viewing imaging sensor or camera 14 a (and the system may optionally include multiple exterior facing imaging sensors or cameras, such as a forward viewing camera 14 b at the front (or at the windshield) of the vehicle, and a sideward/rearward viewing camera 14 c, 14 d at respective sides of the vehicle), which captures images exterior of the vehicle, with the camera having a lens for focusing images at or onto an imaging array or imaging plane or imager of the camera (FIG. 1). The vision system 12 includes a control or electronic control unit (ECU) or processor 18 that is operable to process image data captured by the cameras and may provide displayed images at a display device 16 for viewing by the driver of the vehicle (although shown in FIG. 1 as being part of or incorporated in or at an interior rearview mirror assembly 20 of the vehicle, the control and/or the display device may be disposed elsewhere at or in the vehicle). The cameras operate to capture frames of image data at a desired or selected frame rate, such as, for example, about 30 frames per second or more or less. The data transfer or signal communication from the camera to the ECU may comprise any suitable data or communication link, such as a vehicle network bus or the like of the equipped vehicle.

The present invention provides a targetless calibration system for calibrating cameras of a vehicle vision system. The system is operable to process image data captured by one or more of the cameras 14 a, 14 b, 14 c or 14 d to detect features (see white crosses 22 on the ground 24 near the vehicle as well as the other black crosses 21 at the further 3D space in the upper region 23, such as at the house and trees in the background and not at the ground plane in FIG. 2) on subsequent frames to obtain optical flow of the camera.

As shown in FIG. 2, several features are extracted in the image data captured by the rear-view camera which will be tracked in the subsequent images for optical flow calculations. Using optical flow, the system can generate structure from motion (SfM). Common camera self-calibration systems typically require at least one straight drive and one maneuver to determine the roll angle of the camera, or to determine on which plane the vehicle is moving. When assuming the vehicle is driving on a straight ground, such as in a vehicle assembly plant, the determination on which plane the vehicle is moving is given and for extrinsic calibration there is no dependency of having another driving maneuver.

When collecting the features on a straight drive, a camera calibration can be achieved, but ambiguity in the vector normal to the vehicle plane is there prior to the present invention. The system of the present invention, when tracking the features, makes it is possible to specifically extract the features (in our case the white crosses at the ground area) which lie on a plane. Mostly these will be the features with lowest height as they are found on the ground plane. Normal to this plane will give a vector normal to the vehicle plane, assuming vehicle is moving on a planar surface. The assumption that the vehicle is moving on a planar surface is easy to meet at end of line calibration situations inside an assembly plant. Thus, the system uses the assumption that the determined features lie in the same or common plane as the vehicle (or a plane parallel to a plane along which the camera is moving), such that processing and tracking of the features over multiple frames of captured image data can determine a misalignment of the camera at the vehicle.

The features at the ground plane (white crosses on the ground in FIG. 2) will always lie closer to the camera at the lower part of image, while features tracked on objects with height (see, for example, the other crosses in FIG. 2 at the houses and trees in the background) shall be dominated in the remaining portion of image. Following this assumption, it is possible to pick out the features useful for the calibration algorithm and distinguish them from these which should be ignored. Features above a certain height in the camera fish eye view should be ignored. FIG. 3 shows a borderline 25 which divides the features 22 reflected in the calibration algorithm from these which are ignored 21. In contrast to normal camera lens systems, the borderline 25 in a fish eye camera lens system must be substantially curved when following the same height (horizontal). With this assumption, the required performance can also be achieved in order to track these particular picked features.

The system of the present invention thus may provide an algorithm that performs a fast and reliable targetless calibration of one or more cameras installed on a vehicle (in other words, the system estimates camera calibration parameters) in the assembly plant of the OEM. In such automaker assembly plants, the being-built vehicles are conveyed along an assembly line, large portions of which convey the being-built vehicles along a straight path. The system thus eliminates the need for any camera calibration requiring special setup, such as, for example, a vehicle manufacturer or factory end-of-line process or service-station or the like. Optionally, the system may utilize a motion model for the camera calibration, such as a kinematic model of vehicle motion by utilizing aspects of the calibration systems of the types described in U.S. Publication Nos. US-2014-0347486 and/or US-2014-0350834, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. This system can be used for in-field calibration as well.

Various vehicle camera calibration systems have been proposed, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,421,865; 7,914,187 and/or 7,949,486, and/or U.S. Publication Nos. US-2015-0049193; US-2014-0176605 and/or US-2014-0320658, which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. Such systems typically use and rely on a reference element on the vehicle itself. For outside viewing cameras (such as a side camera disposed at or in an exterior rearview mirror of the vehicle), the vehicle manufacturer may initially calibrate the camera in the vehicle assembly plant, where the system is trained or set to correctly display on the screen what is actually occurring or existing in real life on the ground at or near the vehicle. If nothing changes over time, the system will continue to work properly. But over time, things change (for example, the exterior mirror may be moved in any of six degrees of freedom, such as along the x, y and z directions and/or about three rotational axes), out of which rotational changes have larger effects on top-view or bird's eye view quality, and the camera follows any changes in the mirror so that what is shown on the display screen may no longer be true to the actual outside scene or reality. With multiple cameras, this may become critical if one camera is out of sync with other cameras. While use of a reference point works to calibrate the cameras, the reference point may also be changed on the vehicle.

The system of the present invention calibrates the cameras rotational offsets of the vehicle multi-camera system without use of reference points on the vehicle. The system figures out that a camera is out of calibration and then figures out how to calibrate it, all while the vehicle is being driven by the driver. The system is suitable for use in an end of line testing of the vehicle camera system, where the vehicle is being driven in a generally straight line on a generally planar surface or floor.

The system utilizes multiple cameras at the vehicle. The camera or sensor may comprise any suitable camera or sensor. Optionally, the camera may comprise a “smart camera” that includes the imaging sensor array and associated circuitry and image processing circuitry and electrical connectors and the like as part of a camera module, such as by utilizing aspects of the vision systems described in International Publication Nos. WO 2013/081984 and/or WO 2013/081985, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

The system includes an image processor operable to process image data captured by the camera or cameras, such as for detecting objects or other vehicles or pedestrians or the like in the field of view of one or more of the cameras. For example, the image processor may comprise an image processing chip selected from the EyeQ family of image processing chips available from Mobileye Vision Technologies Ltd. of Jerusalem, Israel, and may include object detection software (such as the types described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,855,755; 7,720,580 and/or 7,038,577, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties), and may analyze image data to detect vehicles and/or other objects. Responsive to such image processing, and when an object or other vehicle is detected, the system may generate an alert to the driver of the vehicle and/or may generate an overlay at the displayed image to highlight or enhance display of the detected object or vehicle, in order to enhance the driver's awareness of the detected object or vehicle or hazardous condition during a driving maneuver of the equipped vehicle.

The vehicle may include any type of sensor or sensors, such as imaging sensors or radar sensors or lidar sensors or ladar sensors or ultrasonic sensors or the like. The imaging sensor or camera may capture image data for image processing and may comprise any suitable camera or sensing device, such as, for example, a two dimensional array of a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in at least 640 columns and 480 rows (at least a 640×480 imaging array, such as a megapixel imaging array or the like), with a respective lens focusing images onto respective portions of the array. The photosensor array may comprise a plurality of photosensor elements arranged in a photosensor array having rows and columns. Preferably, the imaging array has at least 300,000 photosensor elements or pixels, more preferably at least 500,000 photosensor elements or pixels and more preferably at least 1 million photosensor elements or pixels. The imaging array may capture color image data, such as via spectral filtering at the array, such as via an RGB (red, green and blue) filter or via a red/red complement filter or such as via an RCC (red, clear, clear) filter or the like. The logic and control circuit of the imaging sensor may function in any known manner, and the image processing and algorithmic processing may comprise any suitable means for processing the images and/or image data.

For example, the vision system and/or processing and/or camera and/or circuitry may utilize aspects described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,233,641; 9,146,898; 9,174,574; 9,090,234; 9,077,098; 8,818,042; 8,886,401; 9,077,962; 9,068,390; 9,140,789; 9,092,986; 9,205,776; 8,917,169; 8,694,224; 7,005,974; 5,760,962; 5,877,897; 5,796,094; 5,949,331; 6,222,447; 6,302,545; 6,396,397; 6,498,620; 6,523,964; 6,611,202; 6,201,642; 6,690,268; 6,717,610; 6,757,109; 6,802,617; 6,806,452; 6,822,563; 6,891,563; 6,946,978; 7,859,565; 5,550,677; 5,670,935; 6,636,258; 7,145,519; 7,161,616; 7,230,640; 7,248,283; 7,295,229; 7,301,466; 7,592,928; 7,881,496; 7,720,580; 7,038,577; 6,882,287; 5,929,786 and/or 5,786,772, and/or U.S. Publication Nos. US-2014-0340510; US-2014-0313339; US-2014-0347486; US-2014-0320658; US-2014-0336876; US-2014-0307095; US-2014-0327774; US-2014-0327772; US-2014-0320636; US-2014-0293057; US-2014-0309884; US-2014-0226012; US-2014-0293042; US-2014-0218535; US-2014-0218535; US-2014-0247354; US-2014-0247355; US-2014-0247352; US-2014-0232869; US-2014-0211009; US-2014-0160276; US-2014-0168437; US-2014-0168415; US-2014-0160291; US-2014-0152825; US-2014-0139676; US-2014-0138140; US-2014-0104426; US-2014-0098229; US-2014-0085472; US-2014-0067206; US-2014-0049646; US-2014-0052340; US-2014-0025240; US-2014-0028852; US-2014-005907; US-2013-0314503; US-2013-0298866; US-2013-0222593; US-2013-0300869; US-2013-0278769; US-2013-0258077; US-2013-0258077; US-2013-0242099; US-2013-0215271; US-2013-0141578 and/or US-2013-0002873, which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. The system may communicate with other communication systems via any suitable means, such as by utilizing aspects of the systems described in International Publication Nos. WO/2010/144900; WO 2013/043661 and/or WO 2013/081985, and/or U.S. Pat. No. 9,126,525,which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Optionally, the vision system may include a display for displaying images captured by one or more of the imaging sensors for viewing by the driver of the vehicle while the driver is normally operating the vehicle. Optionally, for example, the vision system may include a video display device, such as by utilizing aspects of the video display systems described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,530,240; 6,329,925; 7,855,755; 7,626,749; 7,581,859; 7,446,650; 7,338,177; 7,274,501; 7,255,451; 7,195,381; 7,184,190; 5,668,663; 5,724,187; 6,690,268; 7,370,983; 7,329,013; 7,308,341; 7,289,037; 7,249,860; 7,004,593; 4,546,551; 5,699,044; 4,953,305; 5,576,687; 5,632,092; 5,708,410; 5,737,226; 5,802,727; 5,878,370; 6,087,953; 6,173,501; 6,222,460; 6,513,252 and/or 6,642,851, and/or U.S. Publication Nos. US-2014-0022390; US-2012-0162427; US-2006-0050018 and/or US-2006-0061008, which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Optionally, the vision system (utilizing the forward viewing camera and a rearward viewing camera and other cameras disposed at the vehicle with exterior fields of view) may be part of or may provide a display of a top-down view or bird's-eye view system of the vehicle or a surround view at the vehicle, such as by utilizing aspects of the vision systems described in International Publication Nos. WO 2010/099416; WO 2011/028686; WO 2012/075250; WO 2013/019795; WO 2012/075250; WO 2012/145822; WO 2013/081985; WO 2013/086249 and/or WO 2013/109869, and/or U.S. Publication No. US-2012-0162427, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Changes and modifications in the specifically described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the principles of the invention, which is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims, as interpreted according to the principles of patent law including the doctrine of equivalents. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A camera calibration system for a vehicle, said camera calibration system comprising: a camera disposed at a vehicle and having a field of view exterior of the vehicle; wherein said camera is operable to capture image data; an image processor that processes frames of image data captured by said camera as the vehicle moves along a vehicle assembly line; wherein, responsive to processing by said image processor of frames of image data captured by said camera as the vehicle moves along the vehicle assembly line, said camera calibration system (i) determines features at the ground at the vehicle assembly line and adjacent to the vehicle as the vehicle moves along the vehicle assembly line and (ii) tracks the determined features over two or more frames of image data captured by said camera as the vehicle moves along the vehicle assembly line; wherein, responsive to processing by said image processor of frames of image data captured by said camera as the vehicle moves along a straight path at a planar ground surface at the vehicle assembly line, said camera calibration system determines misalignment of said camera; wherein said camera calibration system, responsive to determination of misalignment of said camera, calibrates said camera by using an assumption that the determined features lie in a plane parallel to the planar ground surface along the straight path at the vehicle assembly line; wherein said camera calibration system determines misalignment of said camera and calibrates said camera without use of a target pattern; and wherein said camera calibration system calibrates said camera by reducing ambiguity in vectors normal to the planar ground surface.
 2. The camera calibration system of claim 1, wherein said camera calibration system calibrates said camera by using an assumption that the determined features lie at the planar ground surface.
 3. The camera calibration system of claim 2, wherein said camera calibration system, responsive to processing by said image processor of frames of image data captured by said camera as the vehicle moves along the straight path at the ground plane at the vehicle assembly line, extracts features that lie on the planar ground surface without use of a target pattern at the planar ground surface at the vehicle assembly line.
 4. The camera calibration system of claim 3, wherein said camera calibration system determines vectors normal to the planar ground surface and determines misalignment of said camera at the vehicle responsive to the determined vectors over two or more frames of image data captured by said camera as the vehicle moves along the vehicle assembly line.
 5. The camera calibration system of claim 1, wherein said camera calibration system calibrates said camera as the vehicle is driven along an end-of-line test of the vehicle assembly line.
 6. The camera calibration system of claim 5, wherein said camera calibration system calibrates said camera without use of a target pattern at the end-of-line test of the vehicle assembly line.
 7. The camera calibration system of claim 1, comprising a plurality of cameras disposed at the vehicle and having respective fields of view exterior of the vehicle, wherein said image processor processes image data captured by said cameras as the vehicle moves along the vehicle assembly line, and wherein said camera calibration system calibrates said cameras without use of target patterns in the field of view of said cameras.
 8. The camera calibration system of claim 1, wherein said camera calibration system comprises a plurality of cameras disposed at the vehicle, each having a respective field of view exterior of the vehicle.
 9. The camera calibration system of claim 8, wherein image data captured by at least some of said plurality of cameras is used for a surround view system of the vehicle.
 10. The camera calibration system of claim 8, wherein one camera of said plurality of cameras comprises a rear camera disposed at a rear portion of the vehicle, and another camera of said plurality of cameras comprises a side camera disposed at a driver-side exterior rearview mirror assembly of the vehicle and another camera of said plurality of cameras comprises a passenger side camera disposed at a passenger-side exterior rearview mirror assembly of the vehicle.
 11. The camera calibration system of claim 1, wherein said camera calibration system determines features below a threshold level in the camera's field of view and ignores features that are above the threshold level in the camera's field of view.
 12. A camera calibration system for a vehicle, said camera calibration system comprising: a plurality of cameras disposed at a vehicle, each having respective field of view exterior of the vehicle; wherein said cameras are operable to capture image data; an image processor that processes frames of image data captured by said cameras as the vehicle moves along a vehicle assembly line; wherein, responsive to processing by said image processor of frames of image data captured by said cameras as the vehicle moves along the vehicle assembly line, said camera calibration system (i) determines features at the ground at the vehicle assembly line and adjacent to the vehicle as the vehicle moves along the vehicle assembly line and (ii) tracks the determined features over two or more frames of image data captured by said cameras as the vehicle moves along the vehicle assembly line; wherein, responsive to processing by said image processor of frames of image data captured by said cameras as the vehicle moves along a straight path at a ground plane at the vehicle assembly line, said camera calibration system determines misalignment of at least one of said cameras; wherein said camera calibration system, responsive to determination of misalignment of at least one of said cameras, calibrates the determined misaligned camera by using an assumption that the determined features lie at the ground plane at the vehicle assembly line; wherein said camera calibration system calibrates the determined misaligned camera by reducing ambiguity in vectors normal to the ground plane; and wherein said camera calibration system calibrates the determined misaligned camera without use of a target pattern.
 13. The camera calibration system of claim 12, wherein said camera calibration system, responsive to processing by said image processor of frames of captured image data as the vehicle moves along the straight path at the ground plane at the vehicle assembly line, extracts features that lie on the ground plane.
 14. The camera calibration system of claim 13, wherein said camera calibration system determines vectors normal to the ground plane and determines misalignment of at least one of said cameras at the vehicle responsive to the determined vectors over two or more frames of image data captured by said at least one of said cameras as the vehicle moves along the vehicle assembly line.
 15. The camera calibration system of claim 12, wherein said camera calibration system calibrates said cameras as the vehicle is driven along an end-of-line test of the vehicle assembly line.
 16. The camera calibration system of claim 12, wherein one camera of said plurality of cameras comprises a rear camera disposed at a rear portion of the vehicle, and another camera of said plurality of cameras comprises a side camera disposed at a driver-side exterior rearview mirror assembly of the vehicle and another camera of said plurality of cameras comprises a passenger side camera disposed at a passenger-side exterior rearview mirror assembly of the vehicle.
 17. The camera calibration system of claim 12, wherein said camera calibration system determines features below a threshold level in the cameras' fields of view and ignores features that are above the threshold level in the cameras' fields of view.
 18. A camera calibration system for a vehicle, said camera calibration system comprising: a plurality of cameras disposed at a vehicle, each having respective field of view exterior of the vehicle; wherein said cameras are operable to capture image data; wherein one camera of said plurality of cameras comprises a rear camera disposed at a rear portion of the vehicle, and another camera of said plurality of cameras comprises a side camera disposed at a driver-side exterior rearview mirror assembly of the vehicle and another camera of said plurality of cameras comprises a passenger side camera disposed at a passenger-side exterior rearview mirror assembly of the vehicle; wherein image data captured by at least some of said plurality of cameras is used for a surround view system of the vehicle; an image processor that processes frames of image data captured by said cameras as the vehicle moves along a vehicle assembly line; wherein, responsive to processing by said image processor of frames of image data captured by said cameras as the vehicle moves along the vehicle assembly line, said camera calibration system (i) determines features at the ground at the vehicle assembly line and adjacent to the vehicle as the vehicle moves along the vehicle assembly line and (ii) tracks the determined features over two or more frames of image data captured by said cameras as the vehicle moves along the vehicle assembly line; wherein said camera calibration system determines and tracks features below a threshold level in the cameras' fields of view and ignores features that are above the threshold level in the cameras' fields of view; wherein, responsive to processing by said image processor of frames of image data captured by said cameras as the vehicle moves along a straight path at a planar ground surface at the vehicle assembly line, said camera calibration system determines misalignment of at least one of said cameras; wherein said camera calibration system, responsive to determination of a misaligned camera, calibrates the determined misaligned camera by using an assumption that the determined features lie in a plane parallel to the planar ground surface along the straight path at the vehicle assembly line; wherein said camera calibration system determines misalignment of said camera and calibrates said camera without use of a target pattern; wherein said camera calibration system determines vectors normal to the plane and determines misalignment of the misaligned camera responsive to the determined vectors over two or more frames of captured image data; and wherein said camera calibration system calibrates the determined misaligned camera by reducing ambiguity in vectors normal to the planar ground surface.
 19. The camera calibration system of claim 18, wherein said camera calibration system calibrates the determined misaligned camera as the vehicle is driven along an end-of-line test of the vehicle assembly line.
 20. The camera calibration system of claim 19, wherein said camera calibration system calibrates the determined misaligned camera without use of a target pattern at the end-of-line test of the vehicle assembly line. 